Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991)

Perls Galleries, New York 
Harry N. Abrams collection, New York
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, Latin American Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture and Prints, November 23-24, 1992, lot 57, illustrated in color
Sale: Sotheby's New York, Latin American Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture and Prints, Part I, November 15, 1994, lot 61, illustrated in color
Private collection, Florida

New York, Perls Galleries, Rufino Tamayo, Oil Paintings 1972-73, November 6-December 8, 1973, no. 1, illustrated in color on the cover
Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Tamayo Peintures, 1960-1974, November 27, 1974-February 2, 1975, no. 68
Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, Rufino Tamayo, March 1-April 30, 1975, no. 71, p. 109, illustrated in color
Tokyo, The National Museum of Modern Art, Rufino Tamayo, April 10-May 30, 1976, no. 29, illustrated
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Rufino Tamayo: Myth and Magic, May 1979, no. 95, p. 119, illustrated in color
Berlin, Staatliche Kunstalle, Rufino Tamayo, 1990, May 2-June 10, 1990, no. 104, p. 227, illustrated in color

Emily Genauer, Rufino Tamayo, New York, 1974, no. 1, illustrated in color in the frontispiece
Jacques Lassaigne and Octavio Paz, Rufino Tamayo, New York, 1982, no. 162, p. 194, illustrated in color
Riviera Velázquez and Mariano Somorrostro, Tamayo, Mexico City, 1983, illustrated in color
Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Internacional Rufino Tamayo, Rufino Tamayo, 70 Años de Creación, Mexico City, 1987, illustrated in color
Octavio Paz, Jacques Lasaigne, Rufino Tamayo, 1994, p. 196, no. 162, illustrated in color
Damián Bayón, Hacia Tamayo, Mexico City, 1995, p. 86, illustrated in color
Xiang Xiaosheng, "Tamayo",  Serie Arte Figurativo del Siglo XX, China, 1995, p. 76, illustrated in color
Rafael Tovar, Teresa del Conde et al., Tamayo, 1998, p. 74, illustrated in color

This large painting is in lovely condition. The canvas is well stretched. The paint layer may have acquired a thin layer of dust, but is essentially in perfect condition. Tamayo's technique involves a lot of texture and different surfaces which are well preserved here and which should not be disturbed. It seems more than likely that there are no restorations. The painting should be hung as is. This condition report has been provided courtesy of Simon Parkes Art Conservation.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Uno de los grandes temas en la pintura de Tamayo es la sexualidad femenina. Tamayo ha preferido mostrar a la mujer como intérprete de una profunda ansia de amar. Pinturas cumbres dentro de esta poética son: Mujer dormida, de 1931; Desnudo en blanco, tanto el de 1943 como el de 1950; La mujer temblorosa, de 1949 y del mismo año Bailarinas en la noche; Venus en su alcoba, de 1956, Mujer en éxtasis, de 1973, y Desnudo, de 1975.

No se trata de variaciones sobre un mismo tema, sino de personificaciones diferentes del deseo, desde la laxitud de la joven durmiente satisfecha, hasta la concentrada impetuosidad de una excitación sin respuesta, pasando por el cuerpo abrasado por las llamas de un instinto enclaustrado en la soledad.  Formas y colores tienen en estos cuadros una precisa intensidad simbólica. La notable poeta mexicana Rosario Castellanos escribió en Lamentación de Dido, estremecedor poema amatorio: "Yo cubrí mi rostro con la máscara nocturna del amante".  Algo similar a una máscara inventó Tamayo con el color para sus Afroditas y sus Ariadnas. El rostro de las ansiosas se enciende de rojo, mientras los cuerpos intocados permanecen blancos. Es el rojo de un "fuego que todo lo consume", como adjetivó el propio Tamayo en su poema El arco iris, de 1983.

La Mujer en éxtasis tiene el rostro blanco, mientras el rojo tiñe todo su cuerpo. No duerme, sólo ha cerrado los ojos. Queriendo conservar el calor del vientre, recoge levemente las piernas muy juntas, y para recuperarse del desfallecimiento delicioso ha echado su brazo derecho hacia atrás de la cabeza. Tendida en un altar pétreo, su persona está resguardada por dos presencias humanoides: la del fondo es un hombre-montaña, la del frente un hombre-nopal. La montaña evoca los apagados volcanes que hacen marco al Valle de México. La cactácea oculta parcialmente a la mujer, a la que resguarda como enhiesto guardián. Con esta Mujer en éxtasis Tamayo pareciera haber querido proclamar, una vez más, su asombro ante el erotismo femenino, cuya intensidad queda planteada por él como un enigma que deberá ser descifrado una y otra vez en la primavera de la vida, por eso el fondo en amarillos, ese amarillo que definió como "tierno sol en día de primavera". 
Raquel Tibol | Mexico, 1992

One of the two main themes in Rufino Tamayo's painting is female sexuality. Tamayo has portrayed woman as the interpreter of a profound desire for loving.  Outstanding canvases in this inspiration are Mujer dormida [Sleeping Woman] of 1931, Desnudo en blanco [Nude in White]–both that of 1943 as well as another from 1950; La mujer temblorosa [The Trembling Woman] of 1949 and Bailarinas en la Noche [Dancers in the Night] of that same year; Venus en su alcoba [Venus in her Room] of 1956, Mujer en éxtasis [Woman in Extasis] of 1973 and Desnudo [Nude] of 1975.

It is not so much a question of variations on a theme, but one of different personifications of desire, from the lassitude of the sated, sleeping young woman, to the concentrated impetuosity of an unrequited sexual excitement passing through the body. Both forms and colors possess a precise symbolic intensity. The renowned Mexican writer Rosario Castellanos wrote the following idea in "Dido's Lament," a moving love poem: "I covered my face with the nocturnal mask of my lover." Tamayo invented something similar to a mask with the colors for his Aphrodites and Ariadnes. The faces of these anxious women beam, lit with red, while their untouched bodies remain white. It is the red color of an "all consuming fire," as Tamayo himself qualified in his own poem "El arco iris" [The Rainbow] in 1983.

La mujer en éxtasis has a white face, while her whole body is tinged with red. She sleeps not; she has only closed her eyes. In the desire to retain the warmth of her womb, she pulls up her tightly-pressed legs, and in order to recuperate from the swoon of rapture she has thrown her right arm back behind her head. Lying on an altar of stone, her figure is protected by two humanoid presences: in the background a mountain-man, and in the foreground a cactus-man. The mountain evokes the dormant volcanoes framing Valley of Mexico. The cactus partially hides the woman whom it protects like an erect guard. Tamayo seems to have sought once again to proclaim his wonder before the sight of female eroticism, whose intensity is depicted by the painter as an enigma that will have to be deciphered again and again in the springtime of life, hence the background in yellow hues, that yellow he defined as a "tender sun on a spring day."